Rapunzel
Rapunzel is the protagonist of Disney's 2010 animated feature film, Tangled. She is the princess of Corona, known for her long, magical, golden hair. As a child, Rapunzel was abducted by a wicked crone and locked away in a remote tower for eighteen years—in during which, she became fascinated with a phenomenon involving "floating lights" that only appear on her birthday. With the aid of the handsome thief, Flynn Rider, Rapunzel escaped her tower to learn more about the lights and pursue her dream of exploring the outside world. Rapunzel is loosely based on the protagonist of the classic German fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. She is the tenth official Disney Princess and the first CGI-animated princess. Eighteen years before the events of Tangled, Rapunzel's parents, King Frederic and Queen Arianna of Corona, were anticipating their firstborn. Unfortunately, very late in her pregnancy, the queen fell ill with what would surely result in her death, as well as her child's. Fearing the death of his love, the King dispatched multitudes of soldiers and villagers alongside the populace to search for a rumored magic flower, created by a single drop of sunlight, with the potential to heal illnesses. ￼ The king and queen commemorate Rapunzel's birth with a floating lantern. After much searching, the flower, long hoarded by a woman named Mother Gothel, who has kept herself young by singing a song to it, is miraculously located and boiled into medicine to cure the queen of her ailment. With the help of the flower, the queen makes a full recovery and soon gives birth to a healthy baby girl, named Rapunzel who, unlike her parents, has beautiful, golden hair. To celebrate her birth, a floating lantern with the emblem of the sun was released into the sky amongst the people of Corona. The peace did not last long, however. Determined to retrieve the flower that kept her young for hundreds of years, Mother Gothel broke into the castle late one night and sang the song to Rapunzel's hair. Discovering that Rapunzel's hair retained the flower's healing powers. Gothel attempted to cut a piece off, only to find that the hair lost its magic and became brown. Frustrated and desperate, Gothel kidnapped the princess and fled to her tower, hidden within an alcove deep in the forest. To protect Rapunzel's hair, Gothel raised Rapunzel as her own daughter and taught her to sing the flower's song. To further ensure her magic supply was plentiful, Gothel continuously brushed the hair to further its growth. Although Rapunzel wished to leave the tower, Gothel warned her of a dangerous world beyond the tower walls, full of selfish people that desired to steal her hair and abuse her power. Meanwhile, the kingdom searched far and wide for their missing princess, but to no avail. As a result, each year on Rapunzel's birthday, the King, Queen, and the entire kingdom release thousands of lanterns into the night sky, in hopes that one day, their lost princess will return. One night, while in the tower alone, Rapunzel would encounter a baby chameleon at her tower window, being followed by a venomous snake. The chameleon is bitten by the snake and dies from poisoning, though Rapunzel is able to both rid the tower of the snake and revive the deceased chameleon with the power of her hair. The chameleon reveals itself to be alone in the world, something Rapunzel relates to, as Gothel would leave her alone in the tower for lengthy periods of time frequently. Rapunzel names the chameleon "Pascal", and to remedy their mutual loneliness, invites him to live with her so they may remain by each other's side from that night forward. Official Description Rapunzel may have lived her entire life locked inside a hidden tower, but Rapunzel is no damsel in distress. The girl with the 70 feet of golden hair is an energetic, inquisitive teenager who fills her days with art, books, and imagination. Rapunzel is full of curiosity about the outside world, and she can't help but feel that her true destiny lies outside of the lonely tower walls. Rapunzel has always obeyed Mother Gothel by staying hidden away and keeping her magical hair a secret... but with her 18th birthday just a day away, she is fed up with her sheltered life and ready for adventure. When a charming thief seeks refuge in her tower, Rapunzel defies Gothel and seizes the opportunity to answer the call of the kingdom. With the unwilling Flynn Rider along for the journey, Rapunzel leaves the tower for the first time, and begins a hilarious, hair-raising journey that will untangle many secrets along the way. Development Disney animator, Glen Keane became interested in directing an animated film based on Rapunzel, as he was intrigued by the concept of a "person that was born with this gift inside of her and it had to come out", which is reminiscent to his experience working as an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios.1 Keane eventually resigned as director after suffering a heart attack in 2008 and Nathan Greno and Byron Howard were hired to replace him.2 Kean however did remain involved as an executive producer of the film and as Rapunzel's Supervising animator.3 Walt Disney originally wanted to do an animated film based on "Rapunzel" following the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, but was abandoned due to story problems. According to Keane, this was due to the original fairy tale takes place within a tower. To overcome this, the writers were forced to develop a way of "bringing Rapunzel out of the tower".4 During development of the film, when it was under the title as Rapunzel Unbraided, Keane described the film as a "Shrek-like version of the film" before ultimately deciding to return to the original roots of the fairy tale.5 In addition, Broadway actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth, who was originally cast as Rapunzel under the working title of Rapunzel Unbraided reveals that at some point Rapunzel was intended to be a squirrel.6 Voice In addition to Chenoweth who was originally cast as Rapunzel while the film was still titled Rapunzel Unbraided under Keane's direction,6 Natalie Portman7 and Reese Witherspoon were also considered for the role of Rapunzel.8 In addition, Witherspoon was also intended to serve as an executive producer on the film. Witherspoon eventually left the project due to creative differences in regards to suggestions towards the film's script. Following Witherspoon's resignation from the project, Rapunzel remained uncast for quite some time, further jeopardizing the film's already troubled production.9 Soon, the directors continued to audition hundreds of young actresses in the hopes of finding Rapunzel's voice, among them being Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel,10 before finally casting pop-singer and actress Mandy Moore. Moore a life long fan of Disney films, described the opportunity to voice a Disney character as "the ultimate fantasy". Initially, after hearing the the role was being sought at the time deterred her from auditioning in favor of avoiding disappointment. After she made up her mind, she auditioned for the role twice.11 Moore had no idea on what her character looked like, because, in terms of visual aid, she was only provided with rough, incomplete sketches and storyboards, while "everything else had to be explained" by Howard and Greno. The majority of the images were created by Moore in her own mind.12 Personality Rapunzel is a spirited and determined young woman. Throughout her young life, she's dreamt of escaping her tower to experience the outside world. Due to the strict order of her sole parental figure, Gothel, however, she remained inside the tower. The use of manipulation and emotional abuse in her upbringing by Gothel has led Rapunzel to believe that the world is highly dangerous, and that remaining in the confines of her sheltered walls is in her best interest. Additional misfortunes born through Rapunzel's upbringing would include such traits as anxiety and low self-esteem. Gothel would often victimize herself whenever she and Rapunzel would hit a bump in their relationship, riddling the latter with guilt, which would, in turn, motivate her to obey Gothel's commands in hopes of making amends. This was all according to plan for Gothel, who relied on Rapunzel's emotional instability to forever maintain control over the princess. With Gothel possessing such a strong emotional hold - having forced Rapunzel to believe she was her only source of security and comfort in a dangerous and unforgiving world - the odds against Rapunzel were high. Nevertheless, what separates Rapunzel from what could be classified as a "damsel-in-distress" is her willingness to step outside of her comfort zone and take on the unknown for the sake of experiencing her dreams. Despite being fearful and at times hesitant, she pushes herself forward to pursue her ambitions. Additionally, she takes matters into her own hands several times throughout the film and cunningly manipulates situations to end in her favor, such as forcing the thief Flynn Rider to act as her guide to the kingdom of Corona after he broke into her tower. After learning the truth behind Mother Gothel and her motives, Rapunzel became fierce, immediately rejected Gothel, and strongly disapproved of any further abuse. With such will and devotion towards herself and what she values, Rapunzel proves to be a force of nature, in her own right. As mentioned above, Rapunzel is spirited, and takes great enjoyment in virtually everything life has to offer. When trapped in her tower, she engaged in various activities such as art and music, creating a vibrant home filled with color and personality, and proving herself to be talented and expressive. When she finally escapes her tower, Rapunzel finds beauty in all she sees, from nature to a group of seemingly gruesome thugs. So much so that Rapunzel is often responsible for quite a few spontaneous, yet uplifting parties so jovial that practically every bystander would join in with zeal. This is seen during "I've Got a Dream" and during the Festival of Lights. Rapunzel is very social in this regard and values her loved ones deeply. This is especially seen through her relationship with Eugene. Rapunzel was able to bypass the thief's roguish nature and managed to bring out his more noble and genuine side. With love and respect for one another, Rapunzel and Eugene formed a relationship built on trust, understanding, and devotion—a relationship that would better themselves individually and lead to the ultimate realization of what they truly want in life. Physical appearance￼Edit Rapunzel is a very beautiful 18-year old (in the film) young woman with fair skin, rosy cheeks, large green eyes, brown eyelashes, brown eyebrows and light freckles around her nose. She is famously known for her long, silky, golden blonde hair which is around 70 feet in length, though her hair is naturally brown like her parents', as when it is cut, it turns so. At the end of the film, Eugene cuts her hair to save her from Gothel, turning it brown and chin length. Rapunzel's dress is a traditional German dress called a "dirndl", with a longer skirt than that of a normal dirndl. Her dress has a purple theme with a pink accent. The dress consists of a lavender corset top laced with a pink ribbon. The skirt is purple. It is decorated with swirling and floral designs in pink, dark purple, and white. She wears a white petticoat underneath. The skirt's hemline is above her ankles, but well below her calves. Her sleeves at the top are short, puffed, and striped with pink and lavender; the rest are long and it is pale baby pink with white lace at the hems. She usually does not wear shoes and dislikes wearing them. At the Kingdom Dance, she wears her hair in a thick braid with smaller braids woven in and adorned with various flowers. Rapunzel's homecoming dress has a white lacing on the neckline and the sleeves. It has a pink bodice that has swirly patterns on it and a corset lacing at the back. The skirt is purplish-pink with similar patterns that are found on her old dress. Powers and Abilities Regeneration and Healing: Channeling the power of the sun, Rapunzel's hair can heal wounds as well as reverse aging to a certain degree. The subject must physically be in contact with the hair in order for the magic to work when the special Healing Incantation is sung; her hair also emits a glowing golden yellow light when the magic activates. Though her hair is later cut and loses its power, her tears also turn out to have resurrection and healing powers. It is unknown if Rapunzel's actual body has the sun's regeneration abilities. It may be that the sun's power merged into her soul - she does seem to be able to bring happiness and harmony wherever she goes - and will only activate and supply physical results when emotions, specifically love, are involved. Another interpretation is that channeling her power through her tears was actually releasing the drop of sunlight that created the magical flower which gave Rapunzel her astounding abilities of healing and life. Viewed in this light, such an effort was a one-off ability. Extraordinary Hair: Rapunzel's hair, used as the main source of physical restoration throughout Tangled, turns brown upon being cut and fails to ever grow longer after being cut. It also appears to be very lightweight, as her extremely long hair would normally inhibit a person's movement due to its sheer weight, and very strong. Adapting: Rapunzel has shown high adaptability; she took roughly two seconds to adjust to the environment of the world. Additionally, she was once trapped in an underwater cave and seemingly was able to swim, when she was never taught to. Category:Females Category:Tangled characters